During the past century, many different hog scraper paddles have been designed for use in meat packing plants. The hog paddle is used to lift, dehair and polish a carcass as it is going through a cavity. Generally, the hog paddles are attached to a star wheel or a rotary machine which lifts and scrapes the carcass as it passes therethrough. In the past, the hog paddles required frequent replacement, especially when dehairing very heavy sows. Lighter weight hogs, such as those in the weight range of 175 to 200 pounds will cause a standard hog paddle to break within approximately 2 to 3 months. However, when dehairing heavy sows, such as those from 600 to 800 pounds, the paddles may be rendered ineffective nearly instantaneously thereby requiring replacement. Conventional hog paddles have been made out of reinforced ply rubber, such as those produced by Gates Rubber Company.
Making sure the paddles are clean is of utmost importance in a meat packing plant. Conventional hog paddles are made of black rubber and are therefore difficult to inspect because the hog hairs and debris collected by the paddles during the dehairing operation are substantially the same color as the hog paddles, and are difficult to see. Conventional rubber paddles are reinforced with woven duck or canvas material, for the most part, and once the rubber has worn away, the cords or strings of the reinforcing material are exposed and act as a breeding ground for bacteria and undesirable odors. For health inspection reasons, the worn paddles do not comply with the USDA standards, and must be replaced. Therefore, even if the hog paddle is still functional, due to health reasons, the paddle requires replacement. It would be advantageous for the meat packing industry to have a hog paddle which is non-porous, easy to clean, easy to inspect, and deters the breeding of bacteria.
Previously, the concern of greatest importance was the longevity of the hog paddle. Many attempts have been made to increase the lifetime of the paddle, and some of them have succeeded to varying degrees. The following are examples of prior attempts to add to the longevity of hog paddles.
U.S. Pat. No. 965,293 issued July 26, 1910 to Gussenhoven describes a beater for hog scraping machines. To increase the longevity of the paddle by avoiding the "set" at the point of the bend of the hog paddle, a cushion was used to press against the portion of the strap mounted to the dehairing machine.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,270,239 issued June 18, 1918 to Jordan, discloses a mounting which allows for a swinging movement with respect to the paddle and which is bendable beyond the limits of the mounting. This is designed to alleviate stress at the bending point, thereby increasing the lifetime of the paddle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,092,483 issued Sept. 7, 1937 to Todd discloses a hog paddle which is transversely split at one end to increase its flexibility and therefore its lifetime.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,296,873 issued Sept. 29, 1942 to Rachford discloses a dehairing beater element which comprises a block of flexible fabric material having a free end performed in a set arcuate shape. The paddle is made of a rubber impregnated fabric.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,604,656 issued July 29, 1952 to Anderson, et al. discloses a hog beater paddle wherein the paddle is reinforced by two sets of layers of fabric-like material extending between the inner and outer ends of the paddle and the sets being disposed in a basically parallel relationship, but spaced apart as they extend from the inner end to the outer end.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,758,334 issued Aug. 14, 1956 to Adams, Jr., et al. discloses a hog paddle having a intermediate fabric section enveloping an inner body of the paddle, while an outer rubber section encases the fabric part, the fabric part being composed of nylon.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,029,064 issued Jan. 28, 1936 to Edwards discloses a carcass scraper which has a substantially continuous uniform taper progressively varying the thickness adjacent to the mounting connection so that deflection of the body during the use of the scraper is distributed over a substantial portion of the length of the body, thereby increasing the lifetime of the paddle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,297 issued Feb. 18, 1986 to Nijhuis, discloses a scraper block for a dehairing machine which includes a leaf spring interposed between elastic material for increasing the lifetime of the paddle body.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a hog paddle which is easy to clean, and one which will address USDA cleanliness concerns as the paddle:
1. is made of a non-porous material; PA1 2. is made of a material which has a sufficiently light color to allow for easy inspection; and PA1 3. is made of a material which is easy-to-clean by standard methods.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a hog paddle for use in a dehairing or polishing machine which will overcome the disadvantages of the above mentioned previous attempts. In carrying out that object, materials and designs have been selected which will (1) provide a thermoplastic hog paddle having a flexural modulus value in a useful range; (2) withstand and resist swelling due to contact with water and animal fats; (3) increase the lifetime of the paddle by withstanding repeated heavy loads; (4) add capacity and volume while handling higher hog carcass loading speeds than previous paddles; and (5) provide a paddle which is easy-to-clean, easy to inspect, as well as one which is non-porous and is not amenable to the breeding of bacteria and other germs which cause health hazards to ultimate consumers.